


Nightmare

by WaitingForMy



Series: Imaginary Friend [6]
Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 11:17:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16407473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaitingForMy/pseuds/WaitingForMy
Summary: He couldn't deny you anything.





	Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first one that contains both child!Reader and adult!Reader. For those of you who are just following the story of child!Reader and Pennywise, you can stop at the double line. ¡Espero que te guste! :)

The delectable scent of fear cascaded off the child in waves. Her brow furrowed in her sleep and she whimpered ever so softly, a barely voiced exhale in the silence of her bedroom, unaware of the monster standing at the foot of her bed.

Its deadlights shone through Pennywise’s eyes like a flashlight, turning redder by the second, as saliva pooled on his lower lip and dripped into a puddle on the floor. The child smelled  _ divine _ . He couldn’t help but imagine sinking his teeth into her soft flesh. Her eyes would snap open, and oh, she would  _ scream _ , but her parents wouldn’t hear. He would make sure of that. He would hold her down and suck the blood from her wounds while she screamed, still alive, still  _ afraid. _ Yes, he would tear her apart slowly, little by little, piece by piece, milking as much of that delicious fear out of her feeble brain as he could before she died, alone and in agony. Only in the morning would her parents come and find what was left of their precious daughter. There would be no “Missing” signs for her. She would have a closed-casket funeral.

The visions flickered through Pennywise’s mind like broken neon lights, and for once, instead of all but forcing him to act upon his predatory urges, they made him sick. They made him sick because that was  _ you _ lying there asleep, having a nightmare, scared and completely vulnerable.

And for some inexplicable reason, in spite of everything he was and was meant to be, he didn’t want anyone – not even himself – to hurt you.

He took one calculated step alongside your bed towards you, then another, as if one wrong move would be the one that snapped his resolve and resulted in your untimely demise. He hand to bend at the waist to reach you. His hand was shaking as he stroked your cheek.

“Wake up, beautiful. It is only a nightmare. Wake up.”

You awoke with a light gasp, eyes snapping open wide. Your eyes flashed with a sort of panicked relief when you saw your companion standing over you, and you sat up and through your arms around him. Your head barely reached his chest.

“Shh…” Pennywise smoothed your hair with one hand while the other came to rest on your back. Your grip around his waist was strong, and he felt a rush of undeserved pride.

You sniffed. “Why are you shaking?”

Oh, what a good question, little one. How to answer? Honestly? Be honest and tell you that he was shaking from the sheer effort it took not to devour you? No. Instead, he told you, “I am upset that you are afraid.” It was not a lie. In fact, it was very much the truth. He hated that you were afraid, if only because it was next to impossible not to kill and eat you, and he knew he would regret that, later. He settled for tightening his grip on your delicate body and burying his nose in your hair to breathe in the scent.

You backed away, and he barely had the self-control to let you out of his grasp. You took his hand and looked up at him, eyes bright and pleading. “Will you stay with me?”

He shouldn’t have, because you were never his to keep, but he knew in that moment that he couldn’t deny you anything. You needed him. And feeling needed felt surprisingly pleasant.

“What was your dream about?” he asked.

“It’s the same one I always have,” you explained. “There’s a monster, and I’m trying to get away, but it’s on top of me, and there’s blood…” You trailed off, gripping his hand a little harder.

He pulled you into his arms again. “That will never happen,” he said. “Not to you. You are mine, and I won’t let that happen.”

You smiled and murmured a sleepy “thank you,” already beginning to fall back asleep. You felt safe when Pennywise was with you, cuddling you like a teddy bear, having no idea what it was you were trusting to hold you in your sleep. 

* * *

* * *

 

You didn’t have the nightmare again until years later.

You woke up in a cold sweat in the emergency room, having been allowed to sleep there after having your wrist – which was definitely and badly broken – taken care of. It was something like three in the morning when you made your way in on an otherwise slow night. You could barely keep your eyes open, so the nurse gave you something for the pain and told you to sleep.

Sleep you did. Rest? Not so much.

The moment your eyes closed, you were on the floor, or maybe the ground, perhaps even some sort of table or altar. It wasn’t clear. The nightmare was vague and shapeless, as it always had been. You were on your stomach, trying to crawl away, but the monster had you pinned, and there was blood. You sobbed, and the monster laughed cruelly, as it always did. It laughed in Pennywise’s voice. Dear god, had it always had Pennywise’s voice?

“You’re not going  _ anywhere _ ,” his voice spat.

You may have screamed in your sleep, given how fast the nurses arrived, expertly calm. “Are you alright? Did something happen?” the nurse who had given you pain medication last night asked.

You nodded, though your eyes were still wild and your breathing was wrecked. “Just a nightmare,” you managed to spit out. You were suddenly acutely aware of the heavy cast on your wrist. “May I go home?”

* * *

 

You came by cab, so you left by cab. The driver was a polite young man who smiled in the rear view mirror and asked, “Where you headed, Miss?”

You honest to God meant to say your address, but instead, what came out of your mouth was “Neibolt Street.”


End file.
